Fact Check: Was 86-year-old stopped from boarding plane because of his Medal of Honor?

Friday

Jun 13, 2014 at 4:59 PM

Carole Fader

Times-Union readers want to know:

Is it true that a Medal of Honor winner who carried his medal into an airport was stopped by security because the medal was deemed to be suspicious?

This email isn't new. The incident happened in 2002. It is a story told by retired Gen. Joseph Foss. And it is true.

Numerous media sources covered the story back in 2002, including The Associated Press and Bob Greene, noted columnist for the Chicago Tribune, whose column is reprinted as the current email.

On Jan. 11, 2002, Joseph J. Foss of Scottsdale, Ariz. - a major in the Marine Corps during World War II, a colonel in the USAF during the Korean War, and later a brigadier general with the South Dakota Air National Guard - was going through security at the Phoenix airport to board an America West flight for Arlington, Va. Because the 86-year-old had a pacemaker, he was patted down instead of going through metal detectors, Greene's column said.

Greene wrote that he talked to Foss for the Feb. 24, 2002, column because he wanted to hear the story directly from him.

"A couple of things caught the attention of the screeners - rightly so," Greene wrote. "Foss has a key chain made out of a dummy bullet, with a hole drilled through it to make it evident it is harmless; he also carries a small knife/file with the Medal of Honor Society's insignia on it. The screeners took both of them."

The security agents found his Medal of Honor, which is shaped like a star, and thought it could be used as a weapon, similar to the Japanese throwing discs hira shuriken.

"The screeners, [Foss] said, allowed him to mail the key chain and the little knife back to his home from the airport. But for 45 minutes, he estimated, he was passed from person to person, made to remove his boots and tie and belt and hat three different times, and prevented from boarding his flight (he was eventually allowed on) because the security personnel, he said, had misgivings about his Medal of Honor," Greene wrote.

Foss, a former governor of South Dakota and former American Football League commissioner, was traveling to a National Rifle Association meeting and to speak at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He said he carried the medal with him because he thought the cadets would like to see it.

He was awarded the medal - the nation's highest military honor for valor in action - by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II after shooting down 26 enemy planes as a Marine fighter pilot in solo combat in the Pacific, Greene wrote.

Foss' story was picked up by media outlets because of well-publicized issues related to heightened air travel standards after Sept. 11.

Eventually, Foss was allowed to board the plane with his medal.

"I wasn't upset for me," he told Greene. "I was upset for the Medal of Honor, that they just didn't know what it even was."

Joe Foss died in Arizona hospital at 87 on New Year's Day 2003.

But judging from the current emails, his story lives on.

Carole Fader: (904) 359-4635

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